The
strength of the Museums collection of Japanese color woodblock prints
lies in an area that is still considered controversial by many Ukiyo-e
(pictures of the floating world) connoisseursthe mid-
to late-nineteenth century. This period of stress in Japanese society
marked the end of the peaceful but extremely authoritarian, reclu-sive,
and feudalistic Tokugawa regime and the turbulent beginnings of a Japan
that was opening itself to the West. Natural and social cataclysm were
matched by the wild and sometimes anguished creativity of the daring and
imaginative generations of Ukiyo-e printmakers who came after Utamaro,
an artist renowned for the breathtaking elegance and serenity of his Classical
restraint.

The
Romantic passion and rebellious irony of these later printmakers are impressive,
but their art is also characterized by increasing technical and emotional
range, a broadening of subject matter, a fusion of Eastern and Western
styles, and an existential and experimental attitude that bears the seeds
of Modernism and even Post-Modernism. Traditionally
dismissed as decadent, the printmakers featured in the Museums collection
and exhibition, including Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, and Kuniyoshis extraordinary
pupil Yoshitoshi, are now being re-evaluated and acclaimed for their skill
and innovation.

The
title of the exhibition comes from a poem inscribed on a print by Yoshitoshi,
who is considered the final and culminating master of Ukiyo-e. From his
landmark One Hundred Aspects of the Moon series, the print depicts the
poet and nun Lady Chiyo, who is best known for a poem in which she tells
of her decision to borrow a bucket of water from a neighbor; her own well
bucket has been ensnared overnight by morning glories, whose summer beauty
she wishes to leave intact. In Yoshitoshis print, however, she is
shown in autumn, transfixed over her fallen well bucket. The inscribed
poem is a kind of counter-poem and states that
the poet has now dropped her bucket and spilled its contents, so that
the moon has no home in the water. Although this famous incident
has connotations of Zen enlightenment, Yoshitoshis image also emphasizes
autumnal sadness and emptiness. It is perhaps now harder for the Buddhist
mind to retain images of reflected purity, except through the artists
work, which explores and redeems Japanese tradition, while at the same
time absorbing the technique and awareness of the modern age.

Approximately
sixty works (including diptychs and triptychs) have been selected for
exhibition from a collection of three hundred. The subject matterimages
of kabuki and courtesans, primarilyand the quality of the prints
themselvescontinue to appeal across the barriers of time and culture.
Indeed, Ukiyo-e influenced both the East and the West. A catalogue accompanies
the exhibition, which was curated by Sandy Kita, assistant professor of
Japanese art history at the University of Maryland,
College Park, and Stephen Margulies, curator of works on paper. It is
made possible with the generous support of the Carpenter Foundation, the
Blakemore Foundation, the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation, Virginia and
Raj Paul, and private donors.